Every morning I've been conversing with Naty (Makocha's mum) in Spanish, although I'm not quite able to have free flowing chats. The pattern tends to be:
2) Work out how to say it
3) Realise that I don't know all the verbs/vocab
4) Think of an alternative
5) 10 minutes later, once it is no longer relevant, slowly despatch the words from my mouth.
However, despite this, I think I'm doing pretty well. We've had conversations about the contrast between Mexican and English life (explaining the difference in rainfall patterns throughout the year being a particular highlight), and I've even managed a few anecdotes/jokes etc for good measure.
However, understanding people out and about when they talk to me as if I have a perfect grasp of the lingo is a different matter entirely... I tend to be like a rabbit in the headlights and just end up saying "errr.... errrmmmm.... ingles?"
I was quite pleased with myself when I went to Starbucks (it was the only place, I wasn't being a philistine) for a coffee... well, a tea in actual fact. "Un te, ingles desayuno por favor" I said, in a convincing manner. The guy at the till simply responded with "English Breakfast?"... He could at least humour me.
No comments:
Post a Comment